As luck would have it for us, I believe the first Helfer record available is that of my 7G Grandfather Andreas Helfer. I also have a marriage record for him in 1654 at which time he would have been 26. This record is especially precious because it gives the names of his parents thus taking us back one more generation. For a more general discussion of these old records look here.
In the record above, the town name of Bach is written in the left margin. (I confirmed this by looking at other entries from the period from Bach and Binnebach.) Johann Helffer and ***** Maria his wife: baptism of son Andreas. Godfather was (name) from Bach. I do not understand the word or name before Maria.